It was my first 14er and only three of six people in our original plan made it. It was the labor day weekend and we were lucky to get the permit that year. This mountain taught me to respect the big mountain condition. We started out with a blue sky up until around 11am and all of a sudden the sky changed and the dark cloud covered us. It hailed, rained and snowed within 30 mintues. We didn't make it to the second base camp as planned so the next day we got up at 4am and made it to the summit and on the way back we made hot food near mt. Muir which many hiker thought we were not serious...

Not sure this is the exact date but is close. It was my first 14er, did it as a day hike with a bunch of friends from our singles group at church. Took just over 12 hours. Caught the "bug" and have been hiking and climbing since.

Third attemot;
No equipment since the airline lost my luggages and I didn't want to wait for them...
I got a one day permit and off I was...
Start time at 2:00AM... got to the top and back in one day...
It was simply awesome....and crazy...
Four to go....!!!

I went on a guided trip with SMI up the Mountaineer's Route in April 2006. Several winter storms had passed through the Sierras in early April, and there was a lot of snow on the route. On the second day it began to snow, and we set up camp at around 12,000 feet, between Upper Boy Scout Lake and Iceberg Lake. The snow continued throughout the night, and it was still snowing (temperature was 13 degrees) when we left camp at 4:30 a.m. on April 23 for a summit attempt.

The snow continued as our group of nine headed up the 30 to 40 degree chute that leads to the peak. We were making good progress, and by 7:30 a.m. we had climbed to around 13,200 feet. But after we had triggered several snow slides, our guide decided that it was best to turn around. Snow was accumulating at a high rate, and the avalanche danger would have been even greater during our descent from the peak.

Note: I summitted Whitney five times via the Main Trail, between 1989 and 2005.

I came to Whitney after solo thru-hiking the Colorado Trail. I went over Shepherd Pass (tough hike, great views of Williamson and Tyndall) and joined the JMT. Rolled out of camp at Guitar Lake before sunrise and was the first to summit that day.

Awesome trip, great weather. I hiked out to Whitney Portal as I arranged a shuttle with a retired Forest Service guy.

My first ascent of anything. Wanted to achieve something before I turned 40. Made all the rookie mistakes but I still summited. Since then I've been back for four more successful summits. I did my first alpine climb on the east buttress and lead the east face.

did the mtneers route instead of E. face, the snow on the east face was too unstable on the slabs. nice ice traverse above the couloir. I'd recommend going straight up the left wall instead of traversing around it forever...more esthetic that way, if you like ice climbing.

Went up this route a few years back with 2 friends. What an awesome route! Got caught in a whiteout right under the summit, what a relief to get back to camp. A definite must do for anyone who likes mountaineering.

I took the last flight of the day from ABQ to LAX. I rented a car at the airport and drove to Whitney Portal just in time to start the hike. After using the facility on top I headed down and took a short nap at trail camp before returning to my rental car and driving back to LAX for the flight home.